With the realization that many clues and hints preceded the September 11 terrorist attacks, statisticians became an important part of the global war on terror. This book surveys emerging research at the intersection of national security and statistical sciences. In it, a diverse group of talented researchers address such topics as Syndromic Surveillance; Modeling and Simulation; Biometric Authentication; and Game Theory. The book includes general reviews of quantitative approaches to counterterrorism, for decision makers with policy backgrounds, as well as technical treatments of statistical issues that will appeal to quantitative researchers.

Recent operations in Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan have highlighted the fact that the U.S. military possesses very limited capability to engage and destroy time-critical targets. Although the U.S. military has been fortunate enough to adjust for this shortfall in the past, there is reason to believe that the prosecution and destruction of fleeting targets involving weapons of mass destruction will become extremely important in the near future. This applied research paper identifies critical shortfalls in the Time-Critical Targeting (TCT) mission as it exists today, identifies alarming trends in the TCT mission, and offers solutions for both the mid and far-term.